Biodiversity & Conservation

A red seaweed - Catenella caespitosa

Catenella caespitosa

Image Keith Hiscock - Catenella caespitosa. Image width ca 50 cm.
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Distribution map

Catenella caespitosa recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Catenella caespitosa is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Class Florideophyceae
Authority (Withering) L Irvine
Recent synonyms Catenella repens
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Widely distributed and common to rocky shores on all coasts of the UK and Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information It is commonly found on the middle to upper levels of rocky shores, but is restricted to sheltered and shaded conditions. It can also sometimes be found in estuaries. It often grows together Gelidium pusillum, with which it can be confused.
Text page icon Description A moss-like plant with an irregularly and highly branched frond. The frond is constricted at intervals into different sized segments and the holdfast is a mass of tangled fibres. The plant is small (growing up to 2 cm tall) and is dark purple.
Identifying features
  • Small, up to 2 cm tall.
  • Dark purple in colour.
  • Moss-like, with irregularly and highly branched fronds.
  • Frond constricted at intervals.
  • Holdfast a mass of tangled fibres.
Additional information icon Additional information Can be confused with the lichen Lichina pygmaea but is found in damper and less exposed locations, tends to be lower on the shore, and is composed of small dark purple flattened fronds.

This review can be cited as follows:

Paolo Pizzolla 2003. Catenella caespitosa. A red seaweed. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 09/02/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2904>